Population & Employment Projections

As part of the Comprehensive Plan update and urban growth area (UGA) review, the county and cities are undertaking a process to allocate population and employment growth to UGAs and the areas of the county outside of UGAs.

Public input and discussion are encouraged throughout the process.

Steps

There are several steps in the process of allocating growth, including:

Initial Policy Based Recommendations - The county and the cities issued recommendations to adjust the technical allocations based upon county goals, city goals, public input, infrastructure capacity, land availability, etc. This step included several meetings of the Whatcom County Planning Commission in late 2013 and early 2014.

Formal Planning Commission Recommendations - The Whatcom County Planning Commission will hold public hearings in 2015 on various components of the Whatcom County Comprehensive Plan, including the population and employment growth projections. The commission will issue formal recommendations to the County Council for modifications to the Comprehensive Plan.

County Council Adoption of Growth Allocations - Final population and employment growth allocations will be adopted in the Whatcom County Comprehensive Plan update, which must be completed by June 2016.